Bluestocking Books: Our Community Bookshop
Donation protected
Hi! Kris Nelson here - owner of Bluestocking Books, San Diego. For over 50 years this special space has been a bookshop, and for 20 years now with me as its steward. WOW! I am SO pleased that the community and my staff have continued to find this very real bookshop a valuable part of daily life and community.
This funding effort addresses both technical innovations & updates as well as more support needed up front to be adding books to our inventory-database-system. It will post for the month of May 2019 and fund us for a year+++
~$6,000 = to reinstate 1 year/1 day per week, 1 employee/$ living wage. To get ahead of the sales out-flow, adding to the inventory. Each employee here has over 20 yrs or more experience in books and are life-time employees whose hours were cut during leaner years. We've worked together over 10 years to be open daily. I love my team!
~$8,000 = 1 year management & consultation on how our Point of Sale register/system & website work together, as well as search engine optimization. We definitely have more people coming in the store than ~15 -20 years ago when a lot of shopping migrated to the internet. People are back! The Internet helps them finds us and our POS system gets our inventory online for shoppers both local and far away. It's all running okey right now but systems need feature updates**
Labor is the hardest cost to cover up front without more debt. If I invest in more product, sure it makes money but 98% of that goes to overhead and the 2% left over doesn't reinvest well. I will invest on systems to work smarter and labor to increase inventory so we can do more & do it more efficiently.
This magical Internet is integral for a business today to be found, to sell, to inform & communicate. Chances are, if you're reading this, you are already familiar with our bookshop. It's come to provide a cultural touchstone for everyone who enters and we strive daily to provide respect and best service to all the people around us. The act of shopping now is anything from a literally faceless experience to a warm exchange. We prefer the latter! The visible increase in numbers of people who want real bookshops, and want to interact & connect with someone as well as something ain't just a win for bookstores, it's win for humanity! Maybe we won't all end up alone and staring at screens!?! ;)
I am making this option available again at my 20 year mark because the 2015GoFundMe brought a lot of good, both in funds and in conversations. I want every opportunity available for anyone who wants to support! I hear it from the clients (you.) how wonderful, magical, calming, important, valued, etc. this third place is and so totally agree: I am its witness. I see it & you and lovely sparks. Working to be one in a long line at 3817 5th Ave! Long live bookshops! Thanks for reading all this. :) Kris
**Before purchasing Joseph Tabler Books in 1999, My job background was Specialty Searches. We all did this through the mail then, using trade journals. There were lists of titles wanted & lists of titles for sale scanned by sellers who sent postcards & books all around the world. In the 1990's this work migrated to the Internet. I introduced a computer here in 1999 & Specialty Searches are still part of what we do every day. I have updated the BsB website 3 times over the years for better book-shopping features. From 2003 - 2005 we got the inventory entered into a database. Currently ~17,000 items are updated daily on bluestockingbooks.com, amazon.com and the rare books get listed on Advanced Book Exchange, abebooks.com.
This funding effort addresses both technical innovations & updates as well as more support needed up front to be adding books to our inventory-database-system. It will post for the month of May 2019 and fund us for a year+++
~$6,000 = to reinstate 1 year/1 day per week, 1 employee/$ living wage. To get ahead of the sales out-flow, adding to the inventory. Each employee here has over 20 yrs or more experience in books and are life-time employees whose hours were cut during leaner years. We've worked together over 10 years to be open daily. I love my team!
~$8,000 = 1 year management & consultation on how our Point of Sale register/system & website work together, as well as search engine optimization. We definitely have more people coming in the store than ~15 -20 years ago when a lot of shopping migrated to the internet. People are back! The Internet helps them finds us and our POS system gets our inventory online for shoppers both local and far away. It's all running okey right now but systems need feature updates**
Labor is the hardest cost to cover up front without more debt. If I invest in more product, sure it makes money but 98% of that goes to overhead and the 2% left over doesn't reinvest well. I will invest on systems to work smarter and labor to increase inventory so we can do more & do it more efficiently.
This magical Internet is integral for a business today to be found, to sell, to inform & communicate. Chances are, if you're reading this, you are already familiar with our bookshop. It's come to provide a cultural touchstone for everyone who enters and we strive daily to provide respect and best service to all the people around us. The act of shopping now is anything from a literally faceless experience to a warm exchange. We prefer the latter! The visible increase in numbers of people who want real bookshops, and want to interact & connect with someone as well as something ain't just a win for bookstores, it's win for humanity! Maybe we won't all end up alone and staring at screens!?! ;)
I am making this option available again at my 20 year mark because the 2015GoFundMe brought a lot of good, both in funds and in conversations. I want every opportunity available for anyone who wants to support! I hear it from the clients (you.) how wonderful, magical, calming, important, valued, etc. this third place is and so totally agree: I am its witness. I see it & you and lovely sparks. Working to be one in a long line at 3817 5th Ave! Long live bookshops! Thanks for reading all this. :) Kris
**Before purchasing Joseph Tabler Books in 1999, My job background was Specialty Searches. We all did this through the mail then, using trade journals. There were lists of titles wanted & lists of titles for sale scanned by sellers who sent postcards & books all around the world. In the 1990's this work migrated to the Internet. I introduced a computer here in 1999 & Specialty Searches are still part of what we do every day. I have updated the BsB website 3 times over the years for better book-shopping features. From 2003 - 2005 we got the inventory entered into a database. Currently ~17,000 items are updated daily on bluestockingbooks.com, amazon.com and the rare books get listed on Advanced Book Exchange, abebooks.com.
Organizer
Kris Nelson
Organizer
San Diego, CA
